White House West Wing

Who is at what desk in the West Wing in the White House? Aides come and go — one needs a scoresheet to keep track of the people who have left President Trump. In our lifetime we have never seen anything like it.

Few advisers are veterans. There are many reasons for the departures, which rank only second to the trains leaving Union Station in Washington, D.C.

Causing quite a stir the past week was the pending departure of Hope Hicks as White House communications director. She will be leaving in a matter of weeks.

Without any political campaign experience, she joined the Trump team in the presidential race, and became known as one of the few aides who understood the Trump personality and style and could challenge the president to change his views, according to The New York Times. Apparently, the president felt a personal comfort with her, The Times said, and “her absence could be jarring.”

Her resignation came a day after she testified for eight hours before the House Intelligence Committee. She testified she had occasionally been required to tell white lies, but had never lied about anything connected to the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

There have been presidential “white lies” before. Remember President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s denial of the U.S. spy plane that was shot down over Russia? Remember Bill Clinton’s denial of his sex life with Monica?

It was reported recently that Hicks was dating Rob Porter, White House staff secretary, who resigned under allegations that he had abused two former wives.

She reportedly did a good job in the stressful job as communications director. If you can’t handle stress, don’t apply for a White House job, especially under Donald Trump.